Not detaching from work during leisure time: A control‐theory perspective on job‐related cognitions

Lack of psychological detachment from work during leisure time is related to unfavorable affective states and poor well‐being but little is known about the processes that drive this relationship. We propose that lack of detachment from work translates into next‐day negative and positive affect by specific thought processes. Building on a control‐theory approach to repetitive thought and rumination, we introduce a refined conceptualization of job‐related cognitions during leisure time that integrates a valence perspective (referring to negative versus positive events) with a temporal‐direction perspective (backward‐oriented vs. forward‐oriented). Using daily‐survey data collected from 243 employees over two workweeks, multilevel path analysis revealed that lack of detachment from negative events predicted backward‐oriented negative rumination and forward‐oriented solution seeking. Lack of detachment from positive events predicted backward‐oriented positive rumination and forward‐oriented goal generation. Only backward‐oriented negative rumination, in turn, predicted next‐day negative affect. Neuroticism and extraversion moderated the relationships between lack of detachment and job‐related cognitions, resulting in a particularly strong serial indirect effect between lack of detachment from negative events and next‐day negative affect for persons high in neuroticism. Our study helps to understand why and for whom lack of psychological detachment from work during leisure time is particularly adverse.